House Republicans file bills to delay Obamacare mandates

A pair of House Republicans have filed legislation to delay key mandates in President Obama’s health care law, following through on GOP leadership’s plans to seize on recent setbacks in the law’s implementation.

Reps. Todd Young, of Indiana, and Tim Griffin, of Arkansas, introduced a pair of bills that would delay both the Affordable Care Act’s “employer mandate” and the “individual mandate” that requires most Americans to obtain some form of health coverage.

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The law’s critics are piggy-backing on the White House’s decision July 2 to delay by one year, to 2015, penalties associated with the mandate requiring employers of 50 or more full-time workers to provide health insurance or pay fines.

Republicans said the decision heeded the concerns of “big business” without providing relief to everyday Americans.

House Speaker John A. Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Thursday they will hold votes next week on whether to delay both mandates.

As a result, Democrats will be forced to either align themselves with Mr. Obama’s law and decision to delay the employer mandate, or distance themselves from the president’s signature domestic achievement.

In the Senate, outspoken lawmaker Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, and a contingent of GOP cosponsors filed legislation this week to fully defund “Obamacare.”